In her free time, Karen enjoys cooking, gardening, making cancer her bitch, forcing bouncers and bartenders to check her ID, drinking martinis, buying shoes, butchering simple addition and subtraction and dressing up Steve and Bobby as her favorite members of One Direction.
Karen Haase
Karen graduated from the University of Nebraska School of Law with highest distinction. She has a Masters of Arts in Political Rhetoric from Kansas State University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hastings College.
As a recovering teacher, Karen is passionate about high-quality public education. She’s a yoga nut, dog enthusiast, avid Husker fan and an outspoken advocate for the elimination of the Oxford comma. She’s also the master of the “machine gun no” (“no, no, no, no, no”) and almost single-handedly keeps Zappos in business.
Karen has been practicing school law for 23 years. Karen is licensed to practice law in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Wyoming. Immediately out of law school, she spent two years as a law clerk to The Honorable C. Arlen Beam, a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. If there is a legal problem facing a school, Karen has probably dealt with it at least once. Student discipline, teacher improvement and remediation, and board relations with administrators and communities are all fodder for the stories she shares in her presentations and in life.
Karen has extensive experience in, comprehensive knowledge of, and heartfelt devotion to special education law. She has tried half of the special education due process cases in Nebraska over the past fifteen years and is a national speaker on special education. She has presented at LRP’s national conferences, including their National Institute, their Special Education Directors Summit and others.
Karen has taught at the high school, community college and university levels. She is the author of numerous articles published in various academic journals. In addition to speaking on education law topics nationally, Karen loves speaking to students, staff, administrators and board members about the issues facing schools in Nebraska.
Karen has been married to her husband David Weber since 1989 (they were precocious toddlers). They have two children: Anna (who is NOTHING like Karen) and Eli (who is NOTHING like David). Karen has experienced transformation as a devoted follower of Christ, although she still curses much more than her mother would like.
Click here for a brief bio to use in introducing Karen at a speaking engagement.